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Monthly Archives: December 2009

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Quick sewing update: Thank you for the emails with the fabric links. I think I will post next week what they are so that I can share the fabric love. Sewing. I love it. Seriously, love. Tuesday night I came home and instead of turning the tv on or getting on the computer, I sat down and sewed. I had some leftover felt from the kids’ art projects and sewed up these adorable little mini bags. I will have to take some photos, I even hand sewed a bit. It was completely relaxing, almost therapeutic. I really understand how time also escapes you. I started at around 9pm and my goal was 2 little bags. Well, next thing I know, it’s 10:30 and 2 bags multiplied into 5. Kind of addicting I tell you. Now, onto my regular scheduled post.

Driving home from dinner:

Greta: Mama, is this Regina Spektor?

Me: Yes.

Greta: Mama, what does she look like?

Me: I can show you a picture when we get home. But she has brown hair and it is curly just like yours.

I have to be honest here. I don’t even know how to sew a button onto something. I never learned. No one ever showed me. And I never asked. But fortunately Aaron has been sewing on our buttons for almost 10 years now. I have been thinking about getting a sewing machine for months, but it’s kind of intimidating. Don’t ask me why I wouldn’t FIRST want to figure out how to sew the button on. But sometimes I like to just jump in with both feet.

Well, I went to Overstock.com in November and started researching the sewing machines they had for sale. This particular one had awesome reviews, and the Brother brand has been around for ages. So, Aaron and I decided to take the plunge. I say Aaron and I, because he was the one who had to teach me to use the machine. He took Home Ec in high school and his mom had a sewing machine so he was pretty comfortable with it.

Here she is:

I learned how to thread the bobbin and experimented with all the stitches. Here’s my first sewing project.

But seriously, how many dinosaur and doll pillows can a girl make?

So the whole family made a trip to the fabric store and Greta picked out her most favorite pattern and I went to work on a skirt for her. I didn’t have the best timing and started the project on a Thursday afternoon. I had about an hour to complete it and I had never seen a pattern before. I tried to figure out how to use it but in the end my fabric was supposed to be stretchy, but it wasn’t. And I wanted to use an elastic waist, which the pattern didn’t have. So I just winged it and decided to free hand. I didn’t think it would actually fit or stay together. But she has worn it three times already and it’s still in one piece. There’s a waistband in the front, and elastic in the back. It’s a cute little straight skirt and Greta is inlove.

The kids were all surrounding the machine as I was sewing it together and they were the best little cheerleaders. When I would make a mistake, which was VERY often, I would hear, “that’s okay mama! it looks great” or “that’s alright, I like it like that”, or “mama, don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be straight”. They were pretty sweet and encouraging. And in the end, Greta got a new little skirt out of the whole thing.

If anyone has some great sites for fabric, please let me know. This is a whole new world for me.

My kids have been talking about having an Egg Nog Party since fall began. They are HUGE eggnog drinkers. My sister even bought Greta a special dress to wear to the Egg Nog Party. It has been hanging in her closet for weeks, she hugged it the first time she saw it. The kids took this very serious and even made signs indicating where we could find the Egg Nog Martinis. Aaron and I decided we might as well enjoy it and make it a cocktail party. I have to say, my friends rock. They all brought something delicious. Here’s just a sampling of what we enjoyed: Susan supplied Dirty Martinis, prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe, shrimp, cheese varieties, Elliott made Puerto Rican eggnog which was dessert like, creamy and sweet with just the right kick, my brother in law is fantastic in the kitchen and did homemade tapenades, Tanya did her signature sausage and peppers, Peter made a homemade pumpkin pie, my store bought pumpkin pie remains in the container, still untouched, to give you a clue as to how good his pie was. Amanda made homemade macaroons. Have you ever tried homemade macaroons? To die for. I did heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, meatballs, feta stuffed pastries. Paige brought chai martinis, Aaron made Egg Nog Martinis and Martha Stewarts’ Classic Eggnog Recipe, and we had several non-alcoholic varieties. I could go on, we had so much food, and with all that egg nog we all felt a little sloshy and full. I bet we consumed a lot of calories. It was so much fun and I have a feeling this may become an annual egg nog celebration in this house. I have realized that I really do enjoy entertaining. I love having people in my house, even if it takes 2 days to put it back together, I love everyone enjoying each other’s company. And other than the cleaning before and cleaning afterward, when everyone pitches in with their treats, it’s really worth it. I also love that my kids are so comfortable with adults, they’re social and entertaining and I hope they grow up in this house full of friends.

I couldn’t take too many photos, what with enjoying my egg nog and all. But here’s a few of the delights we enjoyed.

I have a ton to post, and instead of bombarding one gigantic post with everything, I will try and restrain myself from doing that.

But I will be blogging about our Egg Nog Party, and my very exciting sewing project(yes, I bought a sewing machine and I even MADE something with it!), and I have a final photo shoot for 2009 happening this week for a family I shot back in August. I just love shooting for repeat clients, it really makes my whole week to know they came back for more. This time I get to shoot the family and both sets of grandparents.

In other HUGE news, I quit my job today. I no longer am going into the spa I have worked at for 8 years, but I am solely self employed now. MORE on that to come as well. I have been wanting to share my other website on my blog for awhile, but only now have the freedom to do that. SO EXCITING!

Okay, now for some focus to my rambling, overcrowded brain.

This is Lorelei. Teresa, Lorelei’s mom, won my photo giveaway a little while back and we finally arranged our schedules to coincide. She won a free mini photo shoot and gets to choose an 8×10 and 5×7. This little girl is delicious. I mean look at those cheeks! She was such a good baby, and I’m glad we managed to get some of the whole family. I posted a few more on my photo blog, but here are a few of my favorites.

Greta had a pajama day party at school right before winter break. She was pretty thrilled about the whole thing. The day before I told her that “tomorrow she can wear her pjs to school”. And when she got up in the morning she kept saying over and over again “is this tomorrow? is this tomorrow?” I forgot what she was referring to and told her, “no, this is TODAY.” Then it dawned on me that she was talking about YESTERDAY’S tomorrow! “Yes, this is TOMORROW!” She grinned with joy.

This one pretty much melts my heart. You can see how excited and happy she is to go to school each day.

The kids are on winter break for 3 weeks. We haven’t even gotten through the first week and I’m already digging deep into the craft closet. Friday night I made a preemptive visit to Lakeshore Learning and stocked up on lots of goodies and projects. Yeah, it’s not going to get us through week 1. . .

But we have managed to stay busy and today we haven’t even turned the television on. We finally managed to finish The Enormous Egg book which inspired our kick off project below, and we also started reading James and the Giant Peach. We’ve been reading lots and playing lots, visiting the park and finding projects to do from the internet. It’s times like these that I really appreciate the websites devoted to children’s creativity and art projects. And hopefully maybe we will inspire you in your winter break activities. So far we’ve. . .

hatched a dinosaur

shared in group coloring projects without any bloodshed or tears

created some new wood stick people friends

Greta received a present last night from a sweet and generous sister in our congregation. It’s a design your own ballerina outfit set. Seriously, can you get a more perfect gift for this little girl?

BEFORE

AFTER

Greta was introduced to paper dolls. I absolutely loved paper dolls as a kid and I have been searching for paper doll books for the last year. I’ve only come up with a few but I’m thrilled to have found this source of free paper doll downloads. Just use heavy cardstock, print and be careful you don’t get carpel tunnel from all the cutting, and voila!

Gunnar is enjoying a day of golf tomorrow and movies are in our forecast for Friday. I’m going to take the rest of the week off from blogging so I keep these little people entertained. We are also excited to be hosting an eggnog themed cocktail party this weekend. Mmmm, doesn’t it sound decadent? I am off to research some homemade eggnog recipes.